This movie is technically the very first example of a Superhero feature film from a major Hollywood studio, preceding Richard Donner's Superman by 12 years. Previous efforts to bring DC and Marvel characters to the big screen were limited to matinee serials, cartoons, and the 58-minute indie film Superman & the Mole Men.

An animated film based on the Batman '66 comic book series has been released, making things come full circle.

Alliterative Name: The characters are particularly wordy when describing one another such as Batman calling the villains "pompous penguin" or "feline fatale", etc.

Aluminum Christmas Trees: Shark repellent sprays have existed in one form or another since the Second World War, where the Pacific front required the development of effective countermeasures. Real-life sprays, however, normally focus on making the user less 'tasty' or dampens your scent rather than attacking the creature itself.

Armor Is Useless: Averted. Yes it looks like spandex, but keep in mind that Batman wasn't even hurt by that shark, despite the length of time it was biting on his leg and the fact he was lifted into the air, with nothing else to support the animal's weight.

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Aside Glance: Robin's "Support Your Police" line is delivered directly at the camera to show he's addressing the audience.

Assassination Attempt: The villains plan to "de-hydrate" the United World Council and throw the world into chaos, which initially seems to be some kind of assassination. This expectation is subverted when it turns out water can be applied to rehydrate them, turning their plot into a hostage scheme.

At its finest. The Dynamic Duo, Commissioner Gordon, and Chief O'Hara are attempting to figure out who loosed the exploding shark on the Caped Crusader:

Batman: Pretty fishy what happened to me on that ladder. Gordon: You mean, where there's a fish, there could be a Penguin. Robin: But wait! It happened at sea! "Sea...?" "C" for Catwoman! Batman: Yet — that exploding shark was pulling my leg!Gordon: The Joker! O'Hara: It all adds up to a sinister riddle... Riddle-er. Riddler?!

Big-Bad Ensemble: Catwoman, Penguin, the Joker, and the Riddler. The Riddler does most of the planning, Penguin does most of the leg work, and Catwoman seduces Bruce Wayne. And the Joker is...just sort of...there.

Big Electric Switch: Activates the Instant Bat Costume Change device between the poles going down to the Batcave.

Bilingual Bonus: The song being sung at the nightclub Bruce Wayne takes Miss Kitka to is Plaisir D'Amour, and in spite of the pretty melody is actually about heartbreak and loss. The line that plays when Batman flashes back to it at the end of the film literally means "The pain of love lasts but a moment, the grief of love lasts a lifetime."

Blatant Lies: When Commodore Schmidlap questions The Joker on his sickly complexion, The Joker says its due to his duties as a steward keeping him below decks most of the time.

What makes this doubly hilarious — apart from Joker being more than just a bit pale — is that this is the only thing the otherwise oblivious Commodore thinks is amiss.

Broken Aesop: When reconstructing the world leaders, Robin suggests that they alter their personalities for the betterment of the world. Batman shoots the idea down with a "who are we to play God-esque" line. Cut to after they've done it successfully and it turns out the world leaders have apparently had their native languages switched around (due to an accident with someone sneezing into the powdered forms). Batman is perfectly fine with it and said it's a good thing for the exact reason he shot down Robin's suggestion. To be fair, there is a difference: Robin suggested doing it deliberately, which Batman refused, but when it happened anyway by random chance, Batman lets it slide. After all, who is to say the sneeze was not part of the divine plan?

Bruce Wayne Held Hostage: Literally. When Bruce Wayne and Miss Kitka are kidnapped by the rest of the United Underworld, obviously Batman cannot show up and save them.

Chronic Villainy: When the other villains yell at Riddler to stop leaving clues, he retorts that he just can't help himself.

Clark Kenting: Catwoman/Miss Kitka, though the combination of Catwomans mask and Kitkas Russian accent does make it plausible to not connect the two together. However, this also assumes that Batman and Robin have never seen Catwoman unmasked, which is unlikely since it seems that Catwoman has been previously caught and imprisoned.

Composite Character: Weirdly enough, the Riddler acts a lot more Joker-like than the Joker does, even though the Joker himself is present, albeit not in a major role. Justified, as this movie was before the two characters were more flushed-out.

He also has Repellent Bat Sprays for Manta-Rays, Barracudas, and Whales. In his helicopter.

Dating Catwoman: Played for Drama. Bruce Wayne's love interest in the film, Miss Kitka, is actually a disguise for Catwoman. Bruce deeply loves Kitka, and so when he finds out she's been a criminal this whole time, he's absolutely devastated.

Deadly Dodging: During the big free-for-all fight at the end, Batman ducks under a punch from the Joker, that hits the Riddler who was behind and sends him tumbling in the sea.

Deadpan Snarker: Adam West and Burt Ward do a bit of snarking in the DVD commentary.

Deathtrap: The Exploding Shark, The Magnetic Buoy, The Spring-Loaded Jack-in-the-Box, and of course, A Bomb.

Dedication: "ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: We wish to express our gratitude to the enemies of crime and crusaders against crime throughout the world for their inspirational example. To them, and to lovers of adventure, lovers of pure escapism, lovers of unadulterated entertainment, lovers of the ridiculous and the bizarre — To funlovers everywhere — This picture is respectfully dedicated. If we have overlooked any sizable groups of lovers, we apologize. —THE PRODUCERS"

Demoted to Extra: While Catwoman, the Penguin, and the Riddler all play critical roles in the plans against Batman, the Joker is essentially a glorified henchman. His only major responsibility is servicing Commodore Schmidlapp.

Deus ex Machina: Batman and Robin are magnetically trapped, unable to move, as a torpedo hurtles towards them. All seems lost as we cut to the Dynamic Duo driving away on their boat as they somberly explain a porpoise popped out of nowhere and bravely swam in the way of the torpedo, saving their lives.

Dirty Old Man: Alfred seemed very, umm, reluctant to turn off the Bat-surveillance when Bruce was macking of 'Miss Kitka'.

Dogpile Of Doom: There's a scene where the Joker, the Riddler, the Penguin and their accompanying goon squad burst in on Bruce and Kitka (the disguised Catwoman) to kidnap them. Bruce (who can't use his full fighting prowess for fear of exposing his Batman identity) manages to deck a few Mooks before they Zerg Rush and dogpile him. The Penguin opts to climb to the very top of the pile so that he may squawk in triumph and open his umbrella because at this point in this crazy ass flick why the hell not.

Even the other villains think Riddler and his riddle-compulsion is a little out there.

You will never see the Joker angrily say "You're mad, Riddler" when pushed too far anywhere else.

After dehydrating a bunch of mooks, as his men collect the powder, Penguin goes out of his way to admonish them to be careful not to miss any as "every one of them has a mother". This actually leads to a Mood Whiplash later in the film for those who remember this scene.

The United World Council takes the cake, unable to notice the criminals' entrance or the fact that the members are disappearing one by one.

Commodore Schmidlap doesn't even know he's been captured.

Faux Action Girl: Catwoman can plan and scheme with the best of them, but when it comes to actually fighting Batman, she'd just as soon sit this one out. She does sneak up on him during the climactic fight scene and shove him off the boat, though...

Femme Fatale: Ms. Kitka/Catwoman manages to play on Bruce Wayne's love and honor to make him fall right into the villains' trap.

"Freaky Friday" Flip: In the end, Batman's attempt at rehydrating the world council ends with a "mixing of minds," an Ironic Echo to Robin's suggestion to do that on purpose to try and accelerate progress to world peace. Batman shot the idea down, citing the fate of the five Guinea Pigs as proof they shouldn't try to tamper with the laws of Mother Nature.

Fun with Acronyms: Catwoman masquerades as a writer from the Moscow Bugle named Kitayna Ireyna Tatanya Kerenska Alisoff... but suggested that Bruce call her KITKA for short. He even commented that it was a charming acronym.

General Failure: The only plot-carrying action that we see Vice Admiral Fangschliester do is sell a pre-atomic sub to a Mr. P.N. Gwynne, who doesn't leave a full address. When not talking to Batman, he is shown playing tiddlywinks with his aide.

Getting Crap Past the Radar: The Admiral at the Pentagon is "Playing Tiddleywinks" with his secretary. It sounds saucier on the page than it is on screen.

The Guards Must Be Crazy: United World Security. Though Penguin does have to knock a bunch of them out with sleeping gas, there are no guards at all in the meeting room. They're still worried about guards at this point, so apparently there's an elite group of guards that they found a path around. Also, if it's the same meeting room as at the end of the movie, the villains could have gone through the window and bypassed every guard.

Harmless Voltage: The Joker uses electric joy buzzers on the Penguin and the Riddler.

Heroic BSoD: Batman is stunned for quite a long time once Catwoman is revealed to be Kitka.

Honor Before Reason: Despite the fact that he and Alfred are specifically supposed to be watching Batman's date to make sure nothing happens to Ms. Kitka, Robin turns off the view-screen in the Batmobile during the make-out session because it would be dishonorable to play voyeur to their romance. Particularly dumb since he had just, moments earlier, started a ruse to lure the villains into striking.

Hope Spot: The United World Council appears to have been successfully rehydrated without any problems...until they start talking.

Idiot Ball: The nuns, the marching band, and the mother from the "bomb disposal" scene. Robin deciding not to keep tabs on Bruce out of modesty. Batman not recognizing his sworn enemy Catwoman snogging him, even though she lets out her trademark purr and makes a bunch of cat puns, including her fake name. The villains repeatedly falling for the "we hear an explosion, let's assume they're dead" mistake. The World Council continuing to bicker and dicker as their members are being turned to powder one by one.

Innocent Bystanders: Exaggerated Trope; everywhere Batman goes to dispose of a bomb in the third act, a new group of innocents appears to prevent him from disposing it. Whether it be a convent, a group of tourists, a family of ducks or a restaurant full of people, it looks some days you just can't get rid of a bomb.

Insane Troll Logic: All of the Bat Deductions, not to mention that throughout the film Batman takes rash actions based on what the audience knows, but he himself could not know for certain. This is especially true when it comes to depth charging the submarine.

Instant People: Just Add Water!: Anyone dehydrated into powder can instantly be restored to full size if water is applied to them. This helps the Penguin sneak goons into the Batcave, but it ends up deconstructed when heavy water is used, causing the mooks to disintegrate upon contact with Batman. It's further deconstructed when the powders of the world leaders are mixed together, leaving them all speaking different languages upon adding water.

The scene where the mooks disintegrate is also an example of Artistic License  Physics and Artistic License  Biology; even if it were possible to bring the mooks back to life with heavy water, it wouldn't cause the effects seen in the movie.note Heavy wateri.e., water in which the primary isotope of hydrogen is replaced with the heavier and much rarer deuteriumis used in certain types of nuclear reactors, but is not radioactive by itself. Replacing all of the water in a human with deuterium would result in slow poisoning instead of instant annihilation upon touch.

Invisible President: Lyndon B. Johnson "appears" in a high backed chair to wish the Duo luck in restoring the World Leaders.

Kick the Dog: Batman cites the United Underworld's use of a helpless shark as their pawn as proof of no good among them.

Koosh Bomb: Such an effect appears when the Penguin's submarine is hit with charges from the Bat-Bazooka.

Knockout Gas: Batman and the Penguin each use a gas that causes instant unconsciousness (called Bat-Gas and Penguin Gas, respectively).

Large Ham: The entire cast is an example of some kind, and it's one of the movie's main selling points.

Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone: Bruce and Kitka's making out prompts Robin to turn the hidden camera off. Not to mention the kissing couple in the opening credits. And in a fairly extreme example, Batman refrains from dropping the Cartoon Bomb on the couple in the rowboat.

There's a topless female statue in the hall of the United World; you can't help noticing how many shots include it.

Not to mention the entire office-building-rooftop of bikini-clad women jumping up and down and waving at the Bat-copter as it flies overhead. Robin's smirk says it all.

Merchandise-Driven: The use of the Batcopter, Batboat and Batcycle were meant to sell toys and other tie-in products. Not to mention that the film was made in order to help sell the series overseas. The movie also justified the expense in building these vehicles, which were seen in the TV series mostly through stock shots.

Mood-Swinger: The Riddler goes from icily calm and rational to absolutely giggling nuts in a moment throughout the movie.

Things momentarily take a very sombre tone when the Penguin's rehydrated pirates vanish, and Batman confirms that they're very much gone forever (see Never Say "Die" below). This is amplified by the fact that earlier in the film Penguin takes pains to mention that every one of those men had a mother. This also means that, technically, the usually non-deadly Batman and Robin have just killed a number of people.

Also, when Batman finds out that Catwoman and "Kitka" are the same person at the end of a fun fight scene. The music stops, and Batman slowly looks up with a shell shock look in his eyes. Robin tries to console him, but Batman dismisses him and reminds him they need to focus on saving the day and bringing justice to Gotham.

No Conservation of Mass: Dehydrating a fully grown adult male produces about a pound of powder and maybe two pounds of water. Rehydrating them takes about as much. Where the other 98% of their mass goes is anyone's guess.

No OSHA Compliance: It's not lingered on, but a single switch is the only difference between the Batcave's water dispenser pumping out clean drinking water and "the heavy water we use in recharging the atomic pile" — the same atomic pile into which a woman fell to her death in the very first episode of the TV series.

Nothing Can Stop Us Now!: Catwoman says it to the Penguin after the United Underworld captures the United World delegates, just before they learn that Batman and Robin are pursuing the submarine in which the villains are escaping.

Obvious Stunt Double: In the various fight scenes the Riddler looks nothing like Frank Gorshin, who played him the rest of the time.

One-Hit-Point Wonder: The "Guinea Pigs", rehydrated with heavy water, are highly unstable and easily dispatched and vaporize with one blow.

Only Sane Man: Mr. Bluebeard, judging by the hairy eyeball he gives Catwoman throughout the film.

Out-Gambitted: Penguin manages to attack the Dynamic Duo inside the Batcave, and then steals the Batmobile. Due to the homing beacon hidden in the Batmobile beforehand, he just ends up leading Batman to his lair.

The Penguin, during his masquerade as Commodore Schmidlapp. Not to mention the masks worn by any of our villains.

The villains (Catwoman and especially the Riddler) continually take their masks on and off in each others' presence, which makes you wonder why they bother to wear them around each other at all. At one point, the Joker can be seen wearing a purple domino mask (that matches his suit!) for no reason.

Who could forget "Mr. P.N. Gwynne"?

Justified with Catwoman, since Batman hasn't actually seen her with her mask off yet and, thus, neither he nor the police know that "Ms Kitka" and Catwoman are one in the same. And since Kitka dresses up a lot and wears a lot of hats / hairstyles, she really is somewhat unrecognisable.

Parasol of Pain: The Penguin's umbrella not only functions as a umbrella, it's also a cigarette lighter, a makeshift sword, a club and a knockout gas dispenser.

Reduced to Dust: Commodore Schmidlapp's "instant whiskeymaker" can be used to remove all of the water from living creatures, reducing them to dust.

Reed Richards Is Useless: The premise for The Movie and the Batman TV series is that only Batman can fight supervillains. Zigzagged when Batman quickly refuses Robin's idea to better the world by making a "Freaky Friday" Flip with the United World Organization security council, arguing that they shouldn't try to tamper with the laws of Mother Nature. Then happens exactly that, (but arguably, the Status Quo Is God still applies) and Batman takes responsibility just before going out inconspicuously through the window.

Batman: Who knows, Robin? This strange mixing of minds may be the greatest single service ever performed for humanity! Let's go, but, inconspicuously, through the window. We'll use our Batropes. Our job is finished.

Rocket Ride: The Penguin's jet pack umbrellas are large enough to be ridden like a witch's broomstick by each member of the United Underworld.

Selective Magnetism: The buoy has a magnetic pull that can pull in the Dynamic Duo's utility belts with enough force to completely restrain them, but seems to have no influence on anything they pull from the belt, the torpedo, or their boat parked directly next to the buoy.

Sequel Escalation: Preemptively averted; none of the modern Batman movies has seen fit to throw four super-villains at the heroes in one film.

On the DVD, Adam and Burt play it like this. Which, if you think about it, makes absolute sense. I mean, come on, insane Bat Deduction, impossible to believe stupidity (Commodore Schmidlap and the fake boat), the blatant moral lessons (the whole drunk speech), and shark repellent? And that's just a few of the more ridiculous things.

Further cemented in a book about the TV series, where one of the writers explained that they were aiming for Multiple Demographic Appeal: Kids who liked comicbooks would think Batman was cool, while those who were too cool for comics and understood irony would think Batman was hilarious.

Stock Footage: The Polaris missiles' launching. Scenes of the new Bat-Vehicles shot in the movie were also incorporated in the following seasons of the TV series. In one shot of the Polaris, the editors have attempted to make it look different by flipping the image so the fact that it's the same as the previous one will be less noticeable. Unfortunately, this just means that the word Polaris on the missile appears with all its letters facing the wrong way around.

There are a lot of bad guys on the sub in the climatic fight, but the only indicators of this is that they say so and there's a lot of yelling. Only one person is shown fighting Batman or Robin at a time. This goes beyond regular Mook Chivalry; the other bad guys aren't not in the shot waiting for their turn to attack; they're just not in the shot at all.

Take Over the World: Believed to be the United Underworld's minimum objective. Two villains with no powers teaming together must be trying to take over the city. Add one more, they're going for the country. All four? The world.

Ultimately subverted, as it turns out that despite all the zaniness the villains' plan essentially comes down to kidnapping a bunch of ambassadors and demanding a hefty ransom for them.

Taking the Bullet: The porpoise throwing itself in front of a torpedo to save the Dynamic Duo.

Tricked Into Escaping: While carrying the Penguin in the Batmobile, Batman has car trouble and stops. The Penguin then gasses the Caped Crusaders and escapes in the Batmobile. Batman and Robin jump up (they had earlier taken Anti-Penguin Gas pills) and Batman reveals that the whole situation had been a cunning plan to get the Penguin to escape and lead them to the United Underworld headquarters.

Two Scenes, One Dialogue: Catwoman rehearses the speech she'll use to gain Bruce Wayne's confidence. Cut to Bruce Wayne's response to "Ms. Kitka".

Un-Paused: The United World Security Council members are dehydrated while they're arguing with each other around a conference table. While dehydrated their molecules are mixed together, separated and thoroughly scrambled. When they're rehydrated they immediately pick up where they left off.

Verbal Tic: Penguin's quack and Catwoman's purr. When The Riddler reveals his plan, each of them responds in rapid success with interjections that territorialize each one's personal idiom: The Penguin uses the Britishism "Capital!" while Joker responds with the theatric diva expression "Delicious!" and Catwoman, of course, calls the plan "Purrrrrfect!"

Villain Ball: All the villains hold it, but Riddler uses both hands, as even the other villains advise him not to add his riddles to their ransom notes. But it's worth noting that Riddler's regarded as the clear brains of the foursome and actually comes remarkably close to killing the Dynamic Duo twice, and it's not his riddles that cause him to fall short either time. First, his kidnapping scheme proceeded perfectly and his trap worked just as well, as a hapless henchman later discovered; the flaw in the plan was that Riddler and the others simply didn't know that Bruce Wayne was Batman. Similarly, when his Polaris missile unintentionally takes out the Batcopter, the only thing that saves the lives of the heroes is the fact that they crash-land at the Foam Rubber Wholesalers' Convention.

Villain Team-Up: The four antagonists of the film normally work alone, but for this one time, they've decided to combine their efforts to defeat Batman.

Why no one has reported the United Underworld activities. Batman blames alcohol in a low end neighborhood.

The World Council not noticing the villains entering the room. You could chalk it up to them being distracted by their arguments.

Commodore Schmidlapp doesn't recognize the Joker, mentioning only that he looks deathly pale. The Joker hand-waves this by explaining that he hasn't gotten much sun from being in a submarine all the time.

Would Hit a Girl: For the only time in the 60's series. At the end of the big submarine fight, Batman has Catwoman cornered, and he pulls his arm back, clearly ready to sock her right in the jaw. However, seeing her unmasked and realizing she's Miss Kitka throws him into a Heroic BSoD that leaves him too shocked to throw the punch.

Written Sound Effect: A staple of the Adam West era. Although it only shows up for the final battle.

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